Cushioning accessory for earrings



Dec. 25, 1956 w. GOLLOBIN cusmoumc ACCESSORY FOR EARRINGS Filed Aug. 5, 1955 0 w ,r M f a n N z 0 IN V EN TOR.

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Unite States Patent CUSHIONING ACCESSORY FOR EARRINGS William Gollobin, Beechhurst, N. Y., assignor of fifty percent to Leonard Lawrence, Kew Gardens, and fifty percent to Gollobin Dental Company, Inc, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application August 5, 1953, Serial No. 372,534

2 Claims. (Cl. 24-263) This invention relates to earring screw constructions and more particularly is directed to an improved cushioning accessory for demountably attaching to conventional type screw clamp earrings.

Among the objects of the invention is to generally improve earring cushioning attachments of the character described which shall comprise few and simple parts, which may be readily assembled by unskilled labor, which shall be cheap to manufacture so as to be adapted for use on relatively cheap costume screw clamp earrings as well as those of higher value price range, which shall be easily mounted in an inconspicuous proper cushioning position and retained against accidental detachment, which shall be of minimum weight and relatively small so as not to detract from the appearance of the earring structure, which shall be readily adjusted for comfortable fit and clamping suspension of the earring on the Wearers ear lobes, and which shall be practical and eflicient to a high degree in use.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and in part hereinafter pointed out.

The invention accordingly consists of features of constructions, combination of elements and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the constructions hereinafter disclosed, the scope of the application of which will be indicated by the claims following.

In the accompanying drawings in which embodiments of the invention are shown:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of an earring of conventional screw clamp type provided with an improved cushioning accessory attachment constructed to embody the invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view as seen from line 22 in Fig. 1 showing details of the rear section construction in mounted position on the enlarged curved surface end head of a pressure adjusting screw.

Figs. 3 and 4 are cross-sectional views taken on lines 3--3 and 44, respectively, in Fig. 2 showing details of the engagement of the improved accessory attachment. on the enlarged pressure adjusting screw end.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of a single-piece sheet metal stamping portion or body of the improved accessory attachment shown in Fig. 1 before being folded and retained in form for mounting on the end of pressure adjusting screw before supporting the resilient cushioning member against the wearers ear lobe, and

Fig. 6 is a top plan view of a modified form of the improved cushioning accessory attachment constructed for mounting on a flattened end head of a pressure adjusting screw.

Referring in detail to Figs. 1 to 4 of the drawing, 10 denotes a conventional type of screw clamp earring with an improved cushioning accessory attachment constructed to embody the invention mounted thereon to comfortably fit and clamp the earring on the wearers ear lobe (not shown) in the well understood manner.

The conventional earring structure 11, as seen from Fig. 1, may comprise a yoke portion 11a which has a U-shaped shank 11b terminated at the front end by a suitable ornament or decorative element and terminated at the rear end of shank 11b by a threaded portion 11d through which is carried adjusting screw 11s. The latter is so constructed and arranged that the enlarged front extending end 11 thereof aligns with the central portion of the back side 11g of ornament 11c, rear end of said screw lle being provided with finger buttons 11h to finger turn said screw He in the well understood manner for clamping earring structure 11 to the wearers ear lobe.

Conventional use of earring structure 11, as above described, often results in discomfort to the wearer and also results in the loss of the earring due to failure to screw clamp such earring properly. To overcome these objections, the present invention provides an improved cushioning accessory attachment, generally denoted at 12, which is demountably attached to said enlarged screw front end 11] for swivelling movement with respect to the screw 11e which on turning the finger button 11h interposes a suitable cushioning pad 13 carried by said attachment 12.

The latter, as seen from Fig. 5, may be formed of stamped sheet metal, such as, brass, stainless steel, gold, silver, aluminum or other suitable metal, and may comprise front and rear facing sections 12a and 12b, respectively, the latter being positioned in overfolded relation on a suitable mid-portion 12c joining said sections 12a and 1272, as is clear from Figs. 2, 4 and 5.

Front facing section 12a, as is clear from Figs. 1, 3, 4 and 5, may be of circular contour and formed with a bulged central area 12d convexly curved to extend toward said ornament back side 11g so as to conform and nest front surface of the enlarged screw end 11 Said section 12a may also be provided with a plurality of spaced apart radially extending tabs Re which are bent over after sections 12a and 12b are in said overfolded relation serving to retain said sections 12a and 12b in contact alignment to provide a pocket portion 12f therebetween rearwardly of bulged central area 12d in which pocket 12 screw head 11f is housed as a loosefitting anchorage, the central bulged area 12d being formed on a front wall of said pocket portion 12 Rear extending section 12b which mates with front facing section 12a to form pocket 12f, may also be of circular contour like section 12a but is formed with a bulged center area 12g concavely curved to extend with relation to ornament back side 11g to form a rear wall' for said pocket 12 In order that accessory attachment 12 may be readily mounted in position, rear extending section 12b which as shown may be depressed in a rearward direction is slitted as at 12h from the periphery thereof to extend beyond center through-opening or hole 12 side edges of said slit 1211, the latter being inwardly tapered to form a restricting slideway merging with hole 12 of bulged center section 12g, as is clear from Figs. 2 and 5.

Said hole 12 may be made smaller in diameter than screw head 112 but to loosely fit on the shank of screw 11:: inwardly beyond said head lie, the side edges of said slit 12h being tapered so that the portions thereof adjoining hole 112 are spaced apart a distance less than the diameter of said shank of screw 11s thereby providing a releasable restriction so that said tapered edges of slit 12h forming said slideway provide flexible means which permit forcing pressure on being applied to the screw 11s With the head 11 thereof after entering into said slideway to flex restricting portions of said tapered edges of slit 12h adjoining hole'12j: suificiently to pass and retain accessory attachment 12 loosely anchored for swiveling movement on screw head 11 Cushioning pad 13 may be made of any suitable material, such as, rubber, so-called foam rubber, sponge rubber, felt, or the like plastic material having rubberlike characteristic properties, said pad 13 being secured to front facing section 12a by cement or other suitable adhesive in any well understood manner.

The practical utility of accessory attachment 12 constructed with the cushioning pad 13 will now be apparent.

After stamping blanks like that shown in Fig. 5, mating section 12a and 1212 are brought together by folding mid-portion 12c and then bending over the peripheral tab 12:; so as to bring the accessory attachment 12 into the form shown in Figs. 1 to 5 to provide pocket 12 with radial slit 1211 to form the communicating slideway with said center hole 121', cushioning pad 13 then being secured to said front facing section 12a.

To mount the improved accessory attachment 12 and cushioning pad 13, the enlarged end head 11 of the adjusting screw 11c is simply inserted into the slideway formed by slit 1211 and pressed to pass the restricted portion adjacent the center hole 12 so that the shank portion of said adjusting screw 12:: just inwardly of head 11f snaps past said restriction into place in hole 12 and is removably retained in position as a loose-jointed swiveling anchorage, as is clear from Figs. 2, 3 and 4. The earring with the cushioning accessory may be clampingly secured to the lobe of the wearers ear by simply retracting the adjusting screw 11e so as to provide a clearance between the rear side 11g of the earring structure and the cushioning pad 13 and inserting the ear lobe therebetween, and on tightening the adjusting screw 116 by means of turning the finger button 11h, the ear lobe may be clamped in a desired holding position. The cushioning pad 13 will then be compressed without discomfort to the wearer and can be adjusted to be free from.

any pinching action. Since the accessory attachment 12 is loosely mounted in swiveling position, the pad 13 is self-aligning and readily conforms to any requirement of unevenness of lobe surface contour. The entire attachment 12 with pad 13 is thus seen to be compact, simple and easily adjustable for comfortable wear. To remove the accessory attachment 12 and cushioning pad 13 from earring structure 11 after loosening screw 11e, sufficient pressure is applied thereto to spring or flex the edges of the slideway slit 12h past said restricted means thereby leaving the earring structure 11 in its original condition.

In Fig. 6 is shown a modified construction of accessory attachment 22 and cushioning pad 23 mounted on adjusting screw 212 having an enlarged front end head 21 which, in conventional earring structures, may be found to be somewhat smaller than that shown in Figs. 1 to 4, inclusive, said end head 21] having a flattened surface instead of a curved spherical section shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4.

Accessory attachment 22 requires no bulged center portion either on rear extending section 22]) which is crimped into contact with the front facing section 22a by the radially extending tabs 222, or the like. Thus accessory attachment 22 is, therefore, seen to be of somewhat simpler construction than accessory attachment 12 above described.

Attachment 22, if desired, may be provided with cushioning pad 23 having recessed suction cup 23a contacting surface which can be made to have a tendency to retain the earring to the lobe of the wearer even if when relatively loosely clamped.

While accessory attachments 12 and 22 above described and shown in Figs. 1 to 6 are constructed of a single blank of sheet material, it is to be understood that a construction of two-pieces blanks may be used thereby eliminating mid-fold portion 12c, or the like. Also instead of a single pair of bent tabs 12a, a plurality of spaced apart radially extending tabs, a crimped rim edge or rim edges, or suitable cement, spot weldings, or soldered joint may be substituted.

Although center opening 12 of rear section 1212 is shown as being round, it may be of any suitable shape, and for some purpose may be made rectangular, as for example corresponding to a square circumscribed about said circular shaped opening 12 Although accessory attachments like 12 and 22 are shown made of sheet metal, it is contemplated if desired to construct the same of plastic resin sheet material stampings or as molded structures to be utilized in the manner for the above described purposes.

While the invention has been described to be a demountable accessory attachment, if desired, it may be incorporated in the original earring structures in which case the improved swivelling mounting of the improved accessory on the end of the clamp adjusting screw 11:? or 2112 feature is included and retained as an element of the improved combination.

It is thus seen that there is provided improved cushioning accessory attachments and constructions for earrings of the conventional type whereby the several objects of this invention are achieved and which are well adapted to meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention, and as various changes might be made in the embodiments above set forth, it is to be understood that all matters herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawing are to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, 1 claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A cushioning accessory attachment for a conventional type earring having an adjustable ear lobe clamping screw terminating in a pressure head comprising, a one-piece sheet metal anchorage formed with front and back sections interconnected by an integral portion folded to bring said sections in overlying mating relation forming a pocket therebetween with their peripheral portions in engagement and having a centrally positioned'throughopening in said back section wherethrough said opening the screw extends and in which pocket the pressure head is loosely confined for swiveling movement, said back section having a radially extending slit formed with inwardly tapered side edges communicating with said opening, portions of the said side edges adjoining the opening being spaced apart a distance less than the diameter of the clamping screw to provide a restriction means requiring pressure force for springing the clamping screw from the slideway into said opening and from the latter out into the slideway for attachment and removal, a resilient cushioning pad secured to said front section positioned to be compressed on clamp fastening to the wearers ear lobe, and bent tabs extending from the periphery of at least one of said sections embracing the other section to retain mating relating of said sections in close contact along the periphery edges thereof.

2. The cushioning accessory attachment defined in claim 1 in which said sections each have a bulging midportion forming the walls of said pocket conforming to the contour surface of the pressure head.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 108,520 Sackerman Oct. 18, 1870 729,782 Murphy June 2, 1903 788,770 Hill May 2, 1905 1,304,986 Kassler May 27, 1919 1,330,426 Bishop Feb. 10, 1920 2,417,117 Marcus Mar. 11, 1947 2,666,973 Mosley Jan. 26, 1954 

